June 18, 2016

...well, Father's Day has been tough over the past several years - since Dad died. Part of it is that June is also his birth month, meaning that I get a double whammy of grief and sadness.

It's also tough because, for the last few years of his life, my father and I never talked. In fact, I was persona non grata for reasons known only to him.

And within the space of a few weeks ten years ago, we tried to reconnect....and he was gone. His death kick started my return to Chicago.

In a strange way, I miss him - even though we didn't get along most of the time, the things we did connect around were special: Sherlock Holmes, books, and a strange fascination with office supplies.

(No, really - in college, Dad had asked the what-do-you-need question most divorced fathers ask of their children. I suggested legal pads and highlighters. Two weeks later, I received an American Tourister suitcase full of highlighters and legal pads....and pens....and file folders....and file folder labels....and a portable cassette recorder. Seriously.)

But in that spirit, I want to offer probably the closest you can experience to my father: Stacy Keach's work on Titus. (Ironically, I've been deep diving into Christopher Titus' standup work and podcast...and it's been rather cathartic)

So if you need an explanation as to why I've not been as prolific this past week....here you go. And enjoy these Stacy Keach/Ken Titus "highlights" before they're pulled.